Mo Siewcharran Prize Winner 2025
Yin F Lim’s The Ties That Bind has been announced as the winner of the 2025 Mo Siewcharran Prize.
The first and second runners-up – Sunana by Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed and Tokyo Boys by Rajan Sharma – were also announced at the prize ceremony, hosted at Hachette UK’s London office on 2nd October 2025.
“The first foray into non-fiction for the Mo Siewcharran Prize has been a triumph,” said John Seaton, sponsor and co-founder of the prize. “The theme of Reclaiming History has yielded many exciting submissions, none more so than Yin F Lim’s The Ties That Bind. Its blend of family memoir and innovative examination of mui tsai, a form of servitude that existed in early 20th-century China and Southeast Asia, is a resounding reminder that there is, indeed, much history to reclaim.”
Lim added: “Winning the first Mo Siewcharran Prize for non-fiction is a huge recognition for the women’s stories I want to tell. Through one migrant woman’s life story – my grandmother’s – I want to shine light on the little-known history of the mui tsai. This accolade, and the interest shown in my book proposal, has given me such a confidence boost to write the stories of these women with much-needed nuance and context. I’m very excited about this significant step forward in reclaiming the history and narrative of the mui tsai from the shame and victimhood that have obscured their life stories and to celebrate their strength, resilience and resistance.”
The winner and runners-up were chosen by a panel of judges, comprising historian and author Olivette Otele, author and Black British Book Festival CEO and founder Selina Brown, historian and Trapeze author Paula Akpan, literary agent Emma Bal and cultural historian Sofia Akel.
“Yin’s extraordinary proposal brought together family stories, silences, trauma and healing,” Otele said. “It is a powerful celebration of women’s voices in colonial and post-colonial contexts.”
Anna Valentine, managing director of Orion, added: “It has been an honour for us to host this year’s Mo Siewcharran Prize and to continue the legacy of this wonderful initiative. I have been completely bowled over by the breadth of this year’s submissions and the quality was exceptional. I would like to congratulate all our long and shortlisted entrants and, in particular, the winner and the two runners-up. I was told it was not an easy decision – and I can see why: what an incredible selection of talented writers.”
Named in memory of NielsenIQ BookData’s former director of marketing and communications, the prize is sponsored by John Seaton, Mo Siewcharran’s husband and co-founder of the prize, and NielsenIQ BookData. It is now in its sixth year and was created to shine a light on Black, Asian, mixed heritage and ethnically diverse unpublished writers. Click here to find out more about the Mo Siewcharran Prize.
